Page 57 - Just Enough English Grammar Illustrated Book

Now that we’ve covered person and number, let’s take a closer
look at the gender of pronouns. Remember masculine, feminine,
and neuter nouns from Chapter 1? Since pronouns take the place
of nouns, you will also find masculine, feminine, and neuter
pronouns, but you need to learn how to identify them.

3.7 Gender of Pronouns

Three genders differentiate the third-person
singular pronouns “he,” “she,” and “it.”

Gender

he Masculine Pronoun she Feminine Pronoun
(Generally refers (Generally refers
to male people) to female people)

it Neuter Pronoun
(Generally refers to things)

We say “generally” here because pronouns do not always follow
these simple rules: Animals are classified as male or female,
and sometimes inanimate objects (such as ships and boats) are
referred to as she. Here are examples for each of the three
genders:

Masculine Feminine
Nouns Replace Nouns Replace
each noun each noun
Mr. Miller with pronoun Mrs. Miller with pronoun
man woman
father he mother she
actor actress
bull cow

Neuter
Replace
Nouns
each noun
locker with pronoun
ball
towel it
lotion

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